Mos Def Runs For President, Wants ‘Good Jedis’

On the eve of election day, and a predicted White House win for Democratic contender Barack Obama, crossover film and music superstar Mos Def has suddenly thrown his political hat into the ring. But he’s not a spoiler candidate, but rather an imaginary one, armed with a progressive platform hilariously spelled out recently with the help of Good magazine and everyone’s favorite warrantless wiretapper AT&T.

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"Number one, universal healthcare," the mighty Mos explains. "Flat tax, ten percent for everybody…Mandatory community service for athletes and people who make over half a million dollars a year. You don’t want to feed them hungry kids? Well, we gonna put 20 percent tax on you. You have more, you should do more."

Mos Def also takes aim at America’s controversial election machinery, which has worked against the popular vote before. "Elimination of the electoral college," he proposes. "The popular vote should be the only vote."

He also took the time to deliver his own personal preferences for pop culture, including one hip-hop could really use. "A hundred-year moratorium on the following phrases: ‘In the club,’ ‘That’s hot,’ ‘That’s sick,’" and most notably, "’Shorties.’ I think if we didn’t say ‘shortie’ for the next hundred years, I’m not certain how that would help, but I just know it would."

In his policy statement, Mos Def appealed to followers of The Force to get with the program. "If you realized how much power you had you would use it for good, and not like, for bad, like a Sith. You’d be a good Jedi."